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1The 2018 Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame ballot is out, with several ballot newcomers, and others on the bubble in what could be their last year on the ballot.
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3Newcomers to this year’s ballot are Paul Jones, Johnny Rougeau, Samoa Joe, Rick Martel, Universo 2000 and Kenny Omega.
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5They are all interesting candidates. Jones, to me, is in that category of the type of guys who get some votes but ultimately are not Hall of Fame caliber. Rougeau is either the second or third biggest star in the history of Montreal wrestling, behind Yvon Robert and maybe Edouard Carpentier, and he was also a promoter and booker. While he did wrestle elsewhere and was a star wherever he went, he was really an institution in Montreal. While not impossible, it’s very hard for single promotion institution to get votes from a worldwide balloting audience. It’s similar to a guy like Dave Brown, who I can almost guarantee will get every vote out of Tennessee, but won’t get enough outside that state because he wasn’t a national name. Samoa Joe has a national name now after a long career where he was one of the biggest stars in both ROH and TNA history. He did tremendously in annual balloting for a number of major categories, but will have to overcome a stigma that exists that in the U.S., it doesn’t count if it’s not WWE. Rick Martel was a star everywhere he went and a major star in Quebec, was AWA champion when that belt meant something but didn’t draw big with it. He was a star in WWF as both a babyface and heel, but didn’t get the top of the card singles run with the champion, so for Hall of Fame standards, WWF hurts his case. Universo 2000 had a long run as part of Los Hermanos Dinamita, one of the top trios in Mexico, before his three reigns as CMLL world heavyweight champion that covered 2,555 days from 1997 to 2007. But the heavyweight title is not nearly as big a thing in Mexico as in the U.S. or Japan. Kenny Omega is interesting because in his case, you’re going to have very strong pros and very strong negatives. The key is that it’s three years since he was the top foreign star in New Japan, the No. 2 company in the world. His big match quality is off the charts. Those were easily three Hall of Fame years, and he had loads of great matches previously, but he was a junior heavyweight in New Japan, and before that, was a star with DDT who did have great matches in All Japan and New Japan in the junior division. So from a match quality standpoint, he’s strong but a lot of people are still negative on match quality candidates. Longevity at the top is short but effective. I sense the feeling it’s early for him while others will see him as a no-brainer and a guy who should be first ballot. Another aspect is how important, or not important, you believe his role has been as part of New Japan’s expansion in popularity outside Japan, where the key components and growth came from the first Omega vs. Okada match and even more the Omega vs. Jericho match. And he’s been a draw, really a big draw, at a time when individual draws are rare in the business, but it’s also really only been for a couple of years. His being voted behind only Stan Hansen among foreigners in a general public poll of the biggest wrestling star ever in Japan. My gut says that Omega, as well as Tetsuya Naito, are Hall of Famers in due time, but they will probably need more time in their top positions to clinch the spot. Kota Ibushi is interesting because he’s among the most talented in-ring performers ever, but has never gotten that IWGP title run and may never given his refusal to sign a contract with anyone.
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7Those off the ballot based on either the 15-year-rule, or failing to get ten percent of the vote last year are Pepper Gomez, Dick Hutton, Sangre Chicana, Chyna, Curt Hennig and Tim “Mr. Wrestling” Woods.
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9Those in danger of falling off over the 15-year-rule are Jun Akiyama, Red Bastien, Cien Caras, Jerry Jarrett, Blue Panther, Kiyoshi Tamura, John Tolos and Johnny “Mr. Wrestling II” Walker. They will be removed from the ballot if they fail to get 50 percent of the vote this year, which is a hard number to get.
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11Of those, it would be a big surprise if Bastien, Tamura, Tolos or Walker survive this election. Bastien got 25 percent and is a pure workrate candidate. He was a star for decades, but not at the level of guys who get voted in. But he was acknowledged by his peers as one of the best in the ring of his era. The problem is those candidates fall down as their peers get older, die off, and no longer vote. Bastien did well with the group that has died off and he’s not a great history book candidate.
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13Tamura is similar. Tamura is one of the best workers of his era, and maybe the best at making worked matches look legit and remain exciting. But his style doesn’t exist anymore and when your style is dead, and your opponents aren’t well remembered, your legacy and historical remembrance declines. Tamura is the opposite of many, who aren’t thought of as even serious candidates in their prime or shortly out of, but when younger people get older and vote on who was pushed as opposed to who actually delivered, those people improve in votes. Tamura was the opposite. 15 years ago he was a close call for years, but shoot style is gone, and thus, the stars of shoot style are forgotten. Tolos has always gotten votes, but never enough to be a serious candidate. He was a guy with a long and very good career, but as far as true Hall of Fame years, it’s early 70s Los Angeles and that’s it. But his 1971 run s the top heel in Los Angeles was historically significant. Walker does better than Tolos, because his peak was several years later and the territories of his legacy were stronger later. Walker was a very good wrestler, but certainly not a Hall of Fame candidate until his early 40s. He was a much bigger star as Mr. Wrestling II, particularly in Georgia during the advent of satellite technology. Panther got 40 percent last year. He’s still active, but his prime years were 20 plus years ago and he was always considered a star, but he was never the guy a promotion was built around.
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15Cien Caras and Jarrett would be favorites to get in this year, although they also could fall off the ballot. Panther is more of a longshot to get in, and he could fall off the ballot, but he also could survive. What may hurt Caras, and perhaps even more Panther, is that other Lucha Libre candidates look to have the best chance this year to go in.
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17Last year’s election added Mark Lewin, A.J. Styles, Mike & Ben Sharpe, Minoru Suzuki and Pedro Morales to the Hall of Fame.
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19The favorites this year, given that they hit 50 percent last year but didn’t hit the 60 percent level needed to be inducted, were Los Misioneros de la Muerte, the threesome of El Signo & El Texano (the father of the current AAA/Lucha Underground star) & Negro Navarro, Gary Hart, Jimmy Hart, Howard Finkel, Bill Apter, Yuji Nagata, Ultimo Guerrero, Villano III, Johnny Saint, Jim Crockett Sr., Don Owen and Jerry Jarrett.
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21Others returning to the ballot are Edge, L.A. Park, Karloff Lagarde, Tully Blanchard & Arn Anderson with manager J.J. Dillon, Dr. Wagner Jr., Stanley Weston, Killer Karl Kox, Edmund Francis, Sputnik Monroe, Bearcat Wright, Sgt. Slaughter, Lord James Blears, Spyros Arion, Rollerball Mark Rocco, Hayabusa, Enrique Torres, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Big Daddy, Akira Taue, George Scott, Dominic DeNucci, Cima, Los Brazos (Brazo de Oro & Brazo de Plata & El Brazo), Junkyard Dog, Bill Goldberg, Jim Crockett Jr., Larry Matysik, Kendo Nagasaki, Dave Brown, Ricki Starr, Archie “Mongolian Stomper” Gouldie, Caristico/first CMLL Mistico, Johnny Barend, June Byers, C.M. Punk, Huracan Ramirez, Otto Wanz, Randy Orton, George Steele, Mario Milano, Billy Joyce, The Von Brauners with manager Saul Weingeroff, Wild Bull Curry, Ultimate Warrior, Steve Rickard, Blackjack Mulligan, Kerry Von Erich, Tetsuya Naito, Ruben Juarez, Rocky Johnson, Trish Stratus, Kota Ibushi, Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Chavo Guerrero Sr., Cowboy Bob Ellis, Horst Hoffman, Don Fargo, Vampiro and Jackie Pallo.
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23There seems to be almost a consensus that the strongest candidates this year are from Mexico.
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25Caristico’s run on top as a draw in the mid 00s and being the only Mexican ever to win the Observer’s Wrestler of the Year award would have gotten almost anyone in automatically. But his WWE run was a negative, and while a main eventer and top star in his return to Mexico, he is nowhere close to the level he once was, partially due to the WWE run.
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27Perhaps the same is the case for Park, who may be the biggest single draw in pro wrestling as far as an individual mover on a weekly basis in the business. But he also had a run in the U.S. for WCW where he got a little push, and that little was as a pure comedy figure. Ultimo Guerrero, who is active, had another year as a headliner. Villano III was lauded as one of the legendary figures when he passed away this year. Dr. Wagner Jr. got the biggest single payoff in history for his mask against Psycho Clown in one of the biggest matches in Mexico in many years. Karloff Lagarde is hard to argue against, but he’s hurt by his heyday being so long ago. Cien Caras was a major star for a long time and guys like he, Octagon, Rayo de Jalisco Jr., Fuerza Guerrera have done huge business coming back for legends shows.
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30~~~~~~
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32ONE received $166 million in financing and has used it of late to sign Demetrious Johnson, Eddie Alvarez, Sage Northcutt and Yoshihiro Akiyama, as well as signing Miesha Tate as a Vice President. Those within MMA have raved at the potential of Tate as a broadcaster in a world looking for good looking women who can speak authoritatively on sports. Tate was expected to do some broadcasting for the group and would be a perfect fit for what they are trying to accomplish.
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34ONE is going to take a different tact than UFC, in the sense they will try and present their events like martial arts with respect and honor.
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36The deal will also include promotion and content on other Turner digital platforms, with the debut show being on 1/19 from Jakarta, Indonesia.
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38As noted in previous issues, ONE has been basically a money pit financially, with little in the way of revenue and significant expenses. But the smoke-and-mirrors, and the success of UFC, led them to being heavily financed with the idea that MMA is a great business to be in based on UFC finances, and using metrics like social media reach and the idea that being based in Asia means a potential revenue windfall in China, with the idea martial arts is huge there. Of course, everyone is getting into the China play.
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40But the key also is television stations are desperate for live sports, with the idea it is DVR-proof. While that is the case for the major sports in the U.S., Bellator has shown, as has WWE programming, that people are slowly watching those events in greater numbers on DVR at their convenience, just as they consume other shows.
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42Garnering such a huge deal at the same time both UFC and Bellator ratings significantly declined tells you how much programmers for television are looking at theoreticals and a perception of the future as opposed to current results.
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44What one has going for it is a huge amount of money, giving it stability to survive major annual losses, meaning it’s a good bet to survive the three years. But it is notable that TNT, which had a major history of success with pro wrestling, has turned down every pro wrestling approach for years, even though pro wrestling draws far bigger ratings than MMA. The pro wrestling/MMA connection with wrestling as a lead-in for MMA was successful for Spike with Raw and UFC, and later Impact with Bellator, and has been done with AXS on Friday nights with New Japan and different MMA groups, mainly Legacy Fighting.
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46It appears there will not be a set date, and another issue is time slots. ONE’s shows are in Asia, with huge time slot differences. Indonesia is a 12 hour time difference from Eastern time, so a Saturday night at 8 p.m. show in Jakarta would air on Saturday morning at 8 a.m. in the U.S. Other upcoming big show ONE dates for early next year are a Friday, 2/22, in Singapore which has a 13 hour time difference meaning at 8 p.m. start time live there would be 7 a.m. Friday morning in the U.S., or basically death in the ratings.
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48So unless the deal calls for tape delays into prime time, like Bellator has done with its European shows (and they bombed when going live last week), or they move the live events to 9 a.m. start times in Asia to accommodate the most U.S. viewers, the actual exposure is going to be limited. If ONE is buying its way on the air, and they have the money to do so, in this day and age, it’s not going to work unless it’s prime time. If Turner is getting behind them and looking at this as a way to have their own UFC franchise but with less cost than UFC, that is very different.
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50ONE has been able to manipulate fake numbers to fool people, as Forbes called UFC and ONE a duopoly, and Variety claimed the company was worth $1 billion. Chatri Sityodtong, the Dana White of ONE, at one point predicted that some day ONE would swallow up the UFC and became bigger than the NFL.
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52White himself called ONE a “monster” because of their ties to the Asian market, in deposition in a lawsuit against UFC, charging it with being a monopoly. The television deal and signing of UFC stars from Bellator and ONE would seem on the surface to badly wound the key points in the Cung Le-led lawsuit against UFC, so on one hand when it comes to that lawsuit, UFC losing fighters to other organizations and pay bigger is actually positive. And none of the fighters they’ve lost have been difference makers. Alvarez is an exciting fighter, although his last FOX main event drew poorly and one has to question the toll all of his wars have taken on his body. Johnson is a phenomenal fighter in his prime that UFC couldn’t turn into a money player even when pushing him as the best fighter pound-for-pound in the sport. Northcutt is young and has marketing and television potential, and probably will end up being ONE”s signature star before long, but in UFC with the level of competition, you have to be able to be competitive at the top to really breakthrough, and there were big questions since Northcutt has yet to beat a top fighter and has lost to mid-level fighters.
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54In 2017, ONE generated only $12,099,070 in total revenue based on very detailed business figures obtained by John Nash in an article in Bloody Elbow. But even that number is misleading because $7,845,564 is income from barter transactions, meaning they assign a revenue to it but the money is then expensed out with a similar money listed as expenses.
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56The actual major income sources for ONE last year were just $745,115 in live event ticket sales over the course of the year, or equivalent to one mid-level UFC Fight Night event. However, they draw 10,000 to 15,000 fans at shows on a regular basis, giving the impression they are a thriving promotion, meaning almost all the tickets are given away. Total sponsorship revenue for the year was $2,890,017. While they have television deals throughout Asia, the total revenue from all their television deals in 2017 was $593,261. Total merchandise sales were $72,547. PPV revenue was $52,965.
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58Its total money losses before taxes in 2017 was $25,039,536. And losses have grown each year, with losses of $7,427,857 in 2015, and $14,381,470 in 2016. Total losses since the company has formed are $67,583,925. Essentially this is the MMA version of TNA under Dixie Carter, with the lone difference being no history of TV ratings or live gates, but because it’s MMA, based in Asia, and not pro wrestling, people are still willing to invest huge money into it.
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60The key expenses are $7,856,380 in employee benefits, $2,910,506 in professional fees, $5,960,433 in event production and $11,030,990 in marketing expenses.
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62Still since its inception, ONE has been able to raise $260,902,612.
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64Ariel Helwani, who reported the deal for ESPN, also listed major dates as 2/22 in Singapore and 3/31 for the company’s debut in Tokyo. He noted that Northcutt’s debut would be 2/22, that Johnson would debut on 3/31, and that Alvarez would also fight on one of those shows. It would make sense for Akiyama to fight on the Tokyo show.
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66Hiroshi Tanahashi, 42, captured the Tokyo Sports pro wrestling MVP award for the fourth time in his career in voting that took place on 12/12.
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68Tanahashi got 18 of the votes of the 23 reporters who cover pro wrestling, beating out Kenny Omega with three and Kazuchika Okada with two.
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70The awards are very political in nature, as they are spread out among the promotions and when it comes to the MVP award, it won’t be given to a foreigner. In the 45 years since these awards began, the only foreigner to win was Bob Sapp in 2002, and he was so unbelievably popular and famous that there was no getting around it that year.
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72The reporters stated that Tanahashi’s win was for a number of reasons, including his placing second in the New Japan Cup, winning the G-1 Climax tournament and having a great final match with Kota Ibushi, his defeating Kazuchika Okada and Jay White to earn the Tokyo Dome main event, his starring role in a major Japanese movie (“My Father is a Heel Pro Wrestler”), the way he represents the sport of pro wrestling to the general public and because the National Museum of Western Arts chose to have a Tanahashi display.
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74Tanahashi had previously won the award in 2009, 2011 and 2014. With his fourth win, he joins Genichiro Tenryu (1986, 1987, 1988, 1993) and Keiji Muto (1995, 1999, 2001, 2008) as four-time winners trailing only Antonio Inoki, with six (1974, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1981). Tanahashi vowed to win the IWGP title and repeat as winner next year, something he has never been able to do.
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76The only other multiple time winners have been Giant Baba, Jumbo Tsuruta, Kenta Kobashi, Kazuchika Okada and Tetsuya Naito (who won in 2016 and 2017).
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78The 6/9 Osaka Jo Hall match where Omega, 35, beat Okada, 31, to win the IWGP title in 69 minutes was voted Best Bout, as expected. The matches discussed for the honor were that match, the Tanahashi vs. Ibushi G-1 final match at Budokan Hall, the 8/31 Kento Miyahara vs. Zeus match in Yokohama, and 4/23 Shuji Ishikawa vs. Shingo Takagi Champion Carnival match and the 8/18 Takashi Sugiura vs. Go Shiozaki GHC title match in Kawasaki. But it was pretty much a foregone conclusion of what outcome.
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80Omega vs. Okada on June 4, 2017, in the same building, their 60 minute draw, won the award last year. The last time the same match repeated two years in a row was Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi in 1997 and 1998. The only other feud that won twice was Tsuruta vs. Tenryu in 1987 and 1989. In winning, Okada has now won Match of the Year five years in a row and six of the last seven years, starting in 2012 with Tanahashi, and then 2014 with Shinsuke Nakamura, 2015 with Tenryu, 2016 with Naomichi Marufuji and the past two years with Omega.
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82Marufuji, 39, who is currently out of action with a ruptured muscle in the left leg (not sure if it’s a quad or hamstring) and a left shoulder injury, was awarded the Outstanding Performance award. Also considered for the award were Naito (who got a strong showing here and when not winning pretty much got Best Technical), Sugiura, Ibushi and Kento Miyahara.
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84Naito, 36. won Best Technical Wrestler. Others nominated were Cima, Masaaki Mochizuki, Minoru Suzuki, Seiya Sanada, Masato Yoshino, Masashi Takeda, Hiromu Takahashi and Kota Ibushi.
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86All Japan’s Suwama,42 & Shuji Ishikawa, 43, repeated as tag team of the year, with 16 first place votes. Evil & Sanada essentially had five of the remaining seven votes, three listing LIJ and two listing Evil & Sanada, while the other two votes went to Dragon Gate’s Yamato & BxB Hulk.
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88The only other teams in history were also from New Japan, Baba & Tsuruta (1979 & 1980), Tsuruta & Tenryu (1983, 1984, 1985) and Mitsuharu Misawa & Kobashi (1993 and 1994).
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90Kaito Kiyomiya, at 22, won the Fighting Spirit award with 12 votes to three for Tomohiro Ishii. Cima was also under consideration.
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92Tsukasa Fujimoto, 35 of Ice Ribbon captured the Women’s MVP award for the first time, breaking the three year streak of Io Shirai, who signed with WWE. Fujimoto got 16 first place votes to three for Chihiro Hashimoto and Meiko Satomura and one for Momo Watanabe.
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94Utami Hayashishita, 20, of Stardom, who debuted in August, won Rookie of the Year with 13 votes to ten for Ben K of Dragon Gate.
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96Also given awards for wrestling were Japan’s five world champions coming out of the tournament in Budapest, Hungary, Takuto Otoguru in men’s freestyle at 143 ponds, and women Yui Sasaki (110), Haruna Okuno (116), Mayu Mukaida (120) and Risako Kawai (130).
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98UFC announced on 12/12 that its planned 1/26 PPV show in Anaheim is off.
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100The show is basically a victim of so many championship fights being held in the latter stages of 2018 so, when the Henry Cejudo vs. TJ Dillashaw battle of champions was moved off the show to 1/19 at the Barclays Center, they couldn’t get a new main event.
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102The plan is to add a new PPV date later in the year so there will still be 12 PPV shows. This eliminates the head-to-head competition on 1/26 which had a major Bellator show at the Forum in Los Angeles headlined by Fedor Emelianenko vs. Ryan Bader in the heavyweight title tournament final, as well as NXT Takeover in Phoenix.
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104Plus, Dominick Cruz, who was to face John Lineker, suffered a shoulder injury in training and while not officially, was expected to have to pull out of the show.
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106They had 11 fights scheduled with the top two fights listed right now being Ben Askren vs. Robbie Lawler and Cruz vs. Lineker as solid main card fights but not PPV main events. Nothing else was even close, although Joseph Benavidez vs. Deiveson Figueroa would be a strong main card fight since the winner should get a flyweight title match. But who knows if there will be a flyweight division, and flyweights have been put low on cards so people haven’t been pushed to care about anything except the title fights (which never drew either).
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108They wanted Tyron Woodley to defend the welterweight title, but he had surgery on his thumb and wouldn’t have been ready, although Woodley said he would be ready to defend shortly after, at some point in the first three months of 2019. He said he was going to see his surgeon this week to see when he’ll be ready.
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110White kind of buried him with the idea he’s not fighting enough, even though he actually just headlined a show and burying a long-time champion who just had surgery for not fighting isn’t the best form.
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112Daniel Cormier is also injured and won’t be ready.
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114They wanted Colby Covington vs. Kamaru Usman to create an interim welterweight title, but that would have died as a PPV main event, and Covington feels he’s earned his fight with Woodley and doesn’t want to risk it.
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116Askren said that he would face Usman, but again, that’s nice to have on the show but won’t draw as a PPV main event either, and putting an interim title label on it equals no extra buys as we’ve learned. The unique thing is that Usman is the guy nobody calls out because he’s such a good fighter and the casual audience doesn’t know who he is, so there is little to gain by beating him. There is huge risk in losing to him, given he hasn’t lost since 2013 and that was a mistake made in his second pro fight and he’s one of those guys who has learned to adapt his wrestling game to MMA and nobody has been able to stop him.
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118In what appears to be the end of an era, The Young Bucks & Cody, most likely Adam Page, and perhaps Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian and others finish up this weekend with ROH with Final Battle on 12/14 at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York and a television taping on 12/15 in Philadelphia at the 2300 Arena.
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120Cody adamantly stated that he wasn’t going to WWE, and although WWE made offers to The Young Bucks, Cody and Page, at this point it looks like all are committed to the new AEW promotion that Tony Khan is looking at starting.
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122Largely on the backs of the popularity of the Bucks and Cody, ROH attendance grew strongly in both 2017 and again in 2018. The promotion averaged 644 fans in 2013, and grew to 830 in 2014 with A.J. Styles coming in as a semi-regular and top draw, and the rise in popularity of the Young Bucks, and followed with 986 in 2015 and dropping to 928 in 2016 when Styles left and before Cody arrived to fill that spot and take the promotion to even higher levels.
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124With Cody starting in 2017 and the continued rise in popularity of the Young Bucks, they grew to 1,105 in 2017, including a string of ten straight sellouts later in the year, and were at 1,214 going into the final two shows of the year, including a company record of 6,000 set for Cody vs. Kenny Omega in New Orleans, based on research by Lavie Margolan. However, there has been something of a momentum loss since April, as in 2017 and early 2018 this was the typical promotion with a hot match building and gaining based on that program and once the match took place, since the rematch took place on New Japan dates and Omega, the other key in the record drawing house, didn’t return.
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126The Hammerstein is already sold out with 1,800 tickets for Final Battle, and if they do 800 in Philadelphia they will top 50,000 in attendance for the first time in their history.
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128This came at the same time the industry leader WWE, and its NXT secondary promotion, both had significant declines. While ROH runs far fewer shows than NXT, ROH surpassed NXT for attendance in 2017 as far as a per show average and greatly widened that gap in 2018.
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130Cody’s contract expired at the end of September but he agreed to continue through the end of the year. The Bucks, Page, Daniels and Kazarian’s deals all expire on 12/31, with this coming weekend’s shows being ROH’s final dates of the year.
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132At this point it is widely expected that Cody, The Young Bucks and Page will be the nucleus of All Elite Wrestling. It is not inconceivable they could continue to work as non-contract wrestlers after these shows since there is no timetable as to when AEW would start, and really, without a significant television deal, it would be very difficult to impossible to start, and plenty of people with money and names have tried to get pro wrestling television in recent years with no luck. But the crew staying in ROH is not expected to be the case. ROH is planning on starting a new chapter, likely with debuts and angles this weekend to build the new year. PCO and Brody King are two names that have gotten out.
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134The big question going forward is how much the losses will hurt ROH, as there is no Styles nor Omega level star to offset these losses.
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136The question is how much the ROH name as a brand has built and where it goes from here as to what level the drop will be. But few don’t expect a significant drop in popularity, and really, a mild drop would have to be viewed as a success.
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138The other question gets more tricky in 2018, because another key to ROH’s business increases was the gain in strength of New Japan Pro Wrestling in the U.S. market, which really picked up in 2016.
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140Obviously the key performer to New Japan is Omega, who is the top foreigner. It’s pretty clear watching the last few months that the company has done a big push to get Jay White ready for the top foreigner spot in case Omega leaves.
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142Omega’s next direction is unclear, to the point he’s avoided doing media to build up the Tokyo Dome match with Hiroshi Tanahashi thus far because he knows about the inevitable questions about New Japan, WWE and AEW and he’s not in any position to say anything right now.
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144Obviously both AEW and ROH will want a business relationship with New Japan. Everyone in U.S. independent wrestling, including Impact and MLW would like that relationship for obvious reasons. New Japan has blocked its talent from working for Impact, even though Don Callis is an announcer for New Japan, because of the ROH relationship. They have not blocked people from working for MLW.
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146New Japan could work with both AEW and ROH. The ball really is in their court. The key talent involved want to continue with New Japan. ROH losing the New Japan relationship to AEW would be a huge blow, but that won’t happen now, because they’ve got a sold out Madison Square Garden joint promotion on 4/6. But in 2019, depending if AEW can get off the ground, a lot could change.
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148Final Battle will be more notable for things other than the matches. Do the fans take to the Young Bucks & Cody in particular as traitors tot he cause for leaving, or do they thank them for helping take the company to a new level? Do the fans take this as the end of the ride, or simply a minor dip in the roller coaster that has been ROH since its inception? And what will Sinclair do, because in the end, if Sinclair saw the sold out MSG show as a sign that they could be much bigger going forward, they didn’t make the offers to keep the key talent that would have kept them.
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150The show looks good on paper, but the atmosphere is unique in the sense in this case it’s not about results or match quality that people are watching but something very different and unique. Obviously ROH is well aware and will be looking to shake things up with new stories for 2019, but how receptive will the audience be to that?
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152An interesting note is that the show will start at 8 p.m. Eastern, instead of the usual Friday night start time of 9 p.m. The show is scheduled for four hours, an extension over the usual three hours, which would seem to indicate longer matches as well as time for either surprise matches or angles. We’re told they are not looking at going the entire four hours, but don’t want to be in a situation where they are rushed to make a three-hour deadline and the last matches are compromised as has happened in the past, nor in a situation where some of the matches are not given the most time optimal because of the time constraints.
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154The lineup is headlined by Jay Lethal, the ROH champion who is staying, defending the title against Cody. The natural thought is Cody would lose since he’s leaving, but with so much out, you can’t count out the surprise ending and an extended leave. ROH did that same thing years back when C.M. Punk left, where it was known he was going to WWE, but he still continued to win and they did a storyline about him holding the belt hostage.
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156The Young Bucks are in a ladder match with tag team champions Kazarian & Scorpio Sky, as well as former champions the Briscoes. In theory, if Daniels & Kazarian don’t sign, the Briscoes would have to be favored. There is also a very high standard to expect here since ROH ladder matches with the Young Bucks have been outrageous. There is also a storyline in place from long ago, as Daniels & Kazarian were going to be fired unless they held a championship when the year ended, in which case, because they held titles, they would stay. So in a sense, Kazarian losing the tag title would be a sign he and Daniels are probably leaving.
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158Jeff Cobb, who the company is hoping to become one of its trademark stars going forward, defends the TV title against Page, a match which New Japan helped promote by having Page pin Cobb during the tag team tournament this past week.
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160The rest of the show has the debut of Zack Sabre Jr., against Jonathan Gresham, Daniels vs. Scurll with the winner getting a shot at Lethal’s title, Flip Gordon vs. Bully Ray in an I Quit match, Matt Taven vs. Dalton Castle (who WWE has interest in), Sumie Sakai vs. Madison Rayne vs,. Karen Q vs. Kelly Klein in a Women of Honor title (Karen Q is another name WWE has had interest in for NXT) and Kenny King vs. Eli Isom.
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162Sabre and Will Ospreay are going to me key players in the U.S. market, although it’s been very difficult to get Ospreay to commit to anything significant in the U.S. Both are under contract to New Japan and have shown no indication of wanting to leave. But both would be key guys for ROH if they could use them between tours to keep the worldwide star power level high, and of course would be guys AEW would covet as well given so much of the talent they’d have wanted has been getting signed by WWE over the past year.
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164The last show of the year, Final Battle Fallout, a television taping, currently lists Cobb (or Page) vs. Luchasaurus in a match where Luchasaurus will get a title match if he can win or last 15:00 with the champion, Sabre vs. Tracy Williams, PJ Black vs. Juice Robinson and Rush from CMLL vs. TK O’Ryan.
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166All the key players from Final Battle are listed in Philadelphia, as well as Silas Young, Chris Sabin, Cheeseburger, Beer City Bruiser, Brian Milonas, Holidead, Thunder Rosa, Baretta and Chuckie T.
167
168Eleven Sports, which just signed a multi-year rights deal with UFC in the U.K., has lost the deal and the company is reported as being in trouble.
169
170It has been confirmed that UFC has pulled out of its deal with Eleven based on a clause in the contract, and is expected to stay with BT Sports, which had the rights to UFC that were expiring at the end of this year.
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172Eleven is partially owned by IMG, which is part of Endeavor, the parent company of UFC.
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174The Telegraph reported that Eleven is at risk of shutting down in the U.K. after only four months in the game. The story claimed massive money losses and failure to break through with distribution and make pay-TV deal with Sky, Virgin and BT are the culprits.
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176It also noted that UFC had already pulled out of its exclusive deal that was supposed to start in January, and that was another blow to Eleven. The UFC deal had clauses in it that required Eleven to be carried by Sky, Virgin and BT. Sky and BT saw Eleven as a rival and refused to allow them to be distributed on their platforms, while talks with Virgin fell apart last month.
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178UFC at press time is in negotiations for a new multi-year deal with BT, which is said to be close t finalized and they are hopeful it will be done and official imminently.
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180Eleven responded to the news saying, “Without carriage agreements with the exiting platforms, alongside the challenges posed by rampant piracy, the current market dynamics in the UK and Ireland are very hostile for new entrants. We are in discussions with our rights partners, La Liga and IMG, about how we can restructure our existing agreements in order to continue our current OTT service.” Eleven’s biggest sports are La Liga and Serie A, but has only picked up 50,000 subscribers since starting up in August. Eleven, owned by Leeds United owner Andrea Rodrizzani, goes for 5.99 pounds per month as a subscriber fee and has been successful in Italy and Portugal
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182 
183
184WWE has now announced 12 matches for its 12/16 TLC PPV show in San Jose.
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186At press time nothing has been announced regarding what will be on the pre-show, and there are still matches with top stars, Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Rusev for the U.S. title and Jeff Hardy vs. Samoa Joe, that have continued to be pushed with angles that are not yet announced, meaning there could be as many as 14 bouts.
187
188Either way, it feels like a lot of rushed matches on the card. Historically, TLC is a good show because matches get a lot of leeway, although five gimmick matches with weapons has a great chance of being redundant, although one of the five may be brief.
189
190The match that seems to have the most interest, and should headline, would be Becky Lynch defending the Smackdown women’s title in a three-way TLC match against Charlotte Flair and Asuka. It’s also the first women’s TLC match.
191
192The other announced TLC match is Baron Corbin vs. Braun Strowman, with the stipulations regarding Corbin’s position as General Manager and Strowman’s title shot at Brock Lesnar at the Royal Rumble both being at stake. Strowman has been kept off television after elbow surgery. This would be way too early for him to do a regular match, let alone a long TLC match. But on television everything has been set up to expect him there. Corbin, as the heel has bragged about how he was going to win by forfeit and Strowman only has one arm. Because people would expect Corbin being out there, asking for the ref to count to ten so he wins via forfeit, and then Strowman showing up, it’s possible they could switch this around. But the idea of Strowman coming down and winning in seconds would also seem to make the most sense if that was the originally planned direction. Television this week teased a scenario like that.
193
194The other gimmick matches are Bobby Lashley vs. Elias in a ladder match with a guitar being held from the ceiling and whoever gets the guitar can use it, meaning the end will be via pin. Natalya vs. Ruby Riott is a tables match, with a table with Jim Neidhart’s photo on it being the prop used with the idea it’ll make Natalya upset. Rey Mysterio vs. Randy Orton is the chairs match.
195
196The other matches on the show are Daniel Bryan vs. A.J. Styles for the WWE title, Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose for the IC title, Ronda Rousey vs. Nia Jax for the Raw women’s title, Finn Balor vs. Drew McIntyre, Sheamus & Cesaro vs. Usos vs. New Day for the Smackdown tag titles, Buddy Murphy vs. Cedric Alexander for the cruiserweight title and R-Truth & Carmella vs. Jinder Mahal & Alicia Fox for the Mixed Match Challenge championship.
197
198On paper it looks like a good show, as Bryan vs. Styles should be one of the best WWE matches of the year, Rollins vs. Ambrose, the women’s TLC and the Murphy vs. Alexander match all should be great, as should Orton vs. Mysterio if they’re given any time. Aside from the MMC match, which will probably be kept short and is there just to do a dance break and some comedy, every match on the show should be good in its own way.
199
200Balor has been out of action the past week due to an illness that the company hasn’t disclosed. He was taken out of the MMC semifinals in a match he and Bayley were expected to lose, because, if they had won, being that Bayley is from San Jose, the match probably would have gotten over.
201
202With Balor out, Apollo Crews subbed, but it was Bayley who lost the fall. In the other MMC semifinal, R-Truth & Carmella beat The Miz & Asuka, with the storyline that the latter team couldn’t get along. With Asuka in a TLC match, her team figured to lose.
203
204The winning team in MMC gets the No. 30 spot in both Royal Rumbles, which means the excitement would be No. 29. It would be pretty anticlimactic for R-Truth & Carmella (who would be favored) to both come out No. 30, but that’s how the thing is booked. And it could be a swerve anyway, with the idea that one (Carmella probably) comes out at No. 30, and in the men’s Rumble, the No. 30 is a big surprise when everyone expects R-Truth. At least that would make sense out of all this.
205
206The winning team also gets a vacation to anywhere they want to go, which sounds like a series of comedy sketches. For the past few weeks they’ve been teasing the idea of Carmella & R-Truth going on vacation, as well as Mahal & Fox with the idea that Fox doesn’t want the Singhs to come along.
207
208Iain Kidd, an MMA reporter with the web site Bloody Elbow was fired on 12/7 after it came out he had a recent conviction on a child pornography charge. Kidd and Fillip Hannisdal, 31, were arrested for downloading pornographic images of children as well as for distributing those images. In July, police were tipped off and were granted a search warrant for the home the two lived in Hillington, Scotland, with Kidd’s parents and another person, said to be Kidd’s partner.
209
210Their computer equipment and storage devices were seized and examined. A search of equipment showed that Kidd had “almost 984 still images and 496 moving and 7,689 pictures of extreme pornography.”
211
212Kidd admitted to charges of downloading and possessing indecent images of children between July 2005 and June 2017, and having possession of extreme pornographic images from April 2007 to August 2017. Kidd argued to avoid jail time that he had to care for his mother.
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214He was sentenced to three years probation, no jail time, and was required to register as a sex offender, not leave his home after 7 p.m. or before 7 a.m. and was banned from using the Internet browser Firefox and must disclose his Internet browsing history whenever requested.
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216Kidd and Hannisdal were both ordered to seek treatment with the Moving Forward Making Changes program that addresses people with sexual offending behavior.
217
218Kidd and Hannisdal co-owned Dragonbyte Technologies, Ltd, a software company since 2010.
219
220The Bloody Elbow website, to their credit, did a very detailed story on how everything went down.
221
222Kidd was involved in a twitter argument on the subject of Greg Hardy, who Kidd was negative about his being in UFC, with Dusty Andrews, who went by the name @Fight_Expert.
223
224While in the argument, he did a google search on Kidd, found articles from two local newspapers in Scotland that were published on 7/24 and 9/13, but never got any attention nor did anyone in the MMA community know about them. He sent links to the article to Brian McMahon, a twitter personality known as Frontrow Brian, as well as to Zane Simon, the editor of the web site Kidd worked for.
225
226McMahon publicized them while Simon read the links, looked into the credibility of the publications and the work of the author of the Evening Times, and once he believed them to be accurate, told the staff.
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228The editorial team contacted parent company Vox Media and they terminated Kidd’s contract. Within minutes of McMahon’s tweets, Kidd deleted all his social media accounts.
229
230Kidd sent a private message to Stephie Haynes, who he did a podcast with. She never responded and he sent a second message, saying that he never filmed anyone underage, never touched anyone underage and never told her about any of his issues because he didn’t want her to be in a position to say anything like she had any idea of them.
231
232Haynes said that she wanted that out because she and others ont he staff were accused of having knowledge of his activities, and they had no clue.
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234McMahon researched the article when he got it to see if it was the same Iain Kidd, which wasn’t difficult because the news article mentioned Dragonbyte Technologies which the MMA reporter had listed as his company, and went public with it.
235
236The web site then wrote:
237
238“On Friday night, Bloody Elbow became aware of news reports linking one of our writers to criminal activities including possession of child pornography. As a result, Bloody Elbow and SB Nation terminated his contract that same day. SB Nation and Bloody Elbow strongly condemn the types of activities reported and encourage our readers and listeners to visit Project Children in Canada, Stop It Now in Scotland and Darkness 2 Light in the United States for more information to support victims.”
239
240Kidd also co-hosted two MMA podcasts. He was known for being heavily critical of UFC, and in particular USADA. Of the MMA and boxing reporters, he had one of the best working knowledge and understandings of PED use as well as drug testing. It should be noted that I also work for SB Nation although with MMA Fighting, a different web site under that parent company.
241
242Unfortunately due to rising costs of printing, paper and labor, and increases in postage, we are forced to raise prices for only the second time since increasing from 48 to 60 pages per set more than 13 years ago.
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244We’ve had gradual increases over the years in costs but the latest increase in printing costs and labor costs that was sprung on us has been very significant, amounting to more than 50 cents in increased cost per issue (actually closer to 60 cents for 24 page issues) overall. Since establishing our prices 13 years ago, our costs per issue have more than doubled while we tried to hold the line on prices because we could for years, and later, because the on-line business became successful. But at the current prices, we would be actually losing money overall keeping the print edition alive at the current prices.
245
246You can get the Internet version of the newsletter faster and at a lower price, plus all the audio shows. I know a lot of people still prefer the printed version and we have no plans at all nor any reason for anything to change from here.
247
248Smackdown on 12/11 was up slightly from last week, but still did the third lowest number since going live on Tuesdays with 1,977,000 viewers, a 1.5 percent increase.
249
250Smackdown was 13th for the night on cable, trailing only news shows at Below Deck on Bravo (2,110,000 viewers) and Curse of Oak Island on The History Channel (3,218,000 viewers). ESPN did a much-talked about documentary on the Mike Tyson vs. Buster Douglas fight head-to-head and did 1,210,000 viewers.
251
252The show did a 0.40 in 12-17 (up 8.1 percent from last week), 0.50 in 18-34 (up 11.1 percent), 0.86 in 35-49 (down 1.1 percent) and 0.81 in 50+ (up 3.8 percent).
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254The audience was 63.2 male in 18-49 and 55.4 percent male in 12-17.
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256Raw on 12/10 broke the all-time modern low set on 12/3 by four percent, doing 2,194,000 viewers.
257
258The show featured the second lowest rated first hour in modern (post-1997) history, the lowest rated second hour (and sixth lowest hour of any kind in history) and the third hour was the lowest rated hour of any kind.
259
260A key to this is they made it clear from the opening segment that Seth Rollins vs. Baron Corbin in a TLC match would headline. They haven’t done a TLC match on television in six years and it’s one of the classic PPV gimmicks. The end result was the lowest rated hour for the show in more than 20 years. Obviously doing a TLC before the TLC PPV only dilutes interest in the PPV, but they felt they needed to do it because of last week’s record-low ratings. But it shows that we’re not at the point that even throwing in something to that extreme isn’t going to keep the viewers until the end of the show.
261
262It wasn’t a show that saw the major turn-off rates of recent weeks. It just started low and fell at normal levels from there, but the TLC thing was done to avert just that. The first-to-third hour drops were 12 percent in women 18-49, four percent for men 18-49, 12 percent in girls 12-17, an 11 percent gain during the show among teenagers (so the show did work for one demo) and an 18 percent drop among those over the age of 50.
263
264Raw was tenth for the night on cable, but beat everything besides NFL-related programming on ESPN and news shows. The Minnesota Vikings vs. Seattle Seahawks game did 11,389,000 viewers, up one percent from the 11,237,000 viewers the prior week.
265
266The first hour did 2,347,000 viewers, only beating last week’s first hour for the lowest number in modern history. The second hour’s new low was 2,186,000 viewers. The third hour did 2,048,000 viewers. There was a point in time not that long ago where when the third hour fell under three million, it was considered terrible, and we are at a point where it could fall under two million at any time, and probably will almost for sure during the NBA playoffs next year.
267
268Most of the drop was in the 35-49 age group, which has been the largest since the over 50 drops started. The show did a 0.51 in 12-17 (up 8.5 percent from last week), 0.60 in 18-34 (up 9.1 percent), 0.92 in 35-49 (down 14.0 percent) and 0.86 in 50+ (down 1.1 percent).
269
270The show did 64.9 percent males in 18-49 and 62.3 percent males in 12-17.
271
272Impact on 12/6 did 116,000 viewers, basically the same as the show has been doing. The Tennessee Titans vs. Jacksonville Jaguars NFL game that night did 12,707,000 viewers between FOX and the NFL Network, well down from the prior week.
273
274Including +3 DVR numbers the Bellator show on 11/30 that was head-to-head with UFC gained from 270,000 to 343,000 viewers but the 12/1 show which was the Saturday afternoon show only gained from 207,000 to 238,000, but actually peaked at 491,000.
275
276This is the third and final of the current set. If you’ve got a (1) on your address label, it means your Observer subscription expires with this issue.
277
278Renewal rates for the printed Observer in the United States are $13.50 for four issues (which includes $4 for postage and handling), $25 for eight, $35.50 for 12, $46 for 16, $69 for 24, $92 for 32, $115 for 40, $149.50 for 52 up through $184 for 64 issues.
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280For Canada and Mexico, the rates are $15 for four issues (which includes $6 for postage and handling), $27 for eight, $38.50 for 12, $50 for 16, $75 or 24, $100 for 32, $125 for 40 issues, $162.50 for 52 and $200 for 64.
281
282For the rest of the world, the rates are $17 for four issues (which includes $9 for postage and handling), $33 for eight, $47.50 for 12, $62 for 16, $77.50 for 20, $93 for 24, $108.50 for 28, $155 for 40 issues and $201.50 for 52 issues.
283
284You can also get the Observer on the web at www.wrestlingobserver.com for $11.99 per month for a premium membership that includes daily audio updates, Figure Four Weekly, special articles and a message board. If you are a premium member and still want hard copies of the Observer, you can get them for $9.50 per set in the U.S., $10.50 per set in Canada and $13 per set for the rest of the world.
285
286All subscription renewals should be sent to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228. You can also renew via Visa or MasterCard by sending your name, address, phone number, Visa or MasterCard number (and include the three or four digit security code on the card) and expiration date to Dave@wrestlingobserver.com or by fax to (408)244-3402. You can also renew at www.paypal.com using dave@wrestlingobserver.com as the pay to address. For all credit card or paypal orders, please add a $1 processing fee. If there are any subscription problems, you can contact us and we will attempt to rectify them immediately, but please include with your name a full address as well a phone number you can be contacted at.
287
288All letters to the editor, reports from live shows and any other correspondence pertaining to this publication should also be sent to the above address.
289
290This publication is copyright material and no portion of the Observer may be reprinted without the expressed consent of publisher/writer Dave Meltzer. The Observer is also produced by Derek Sabato.
291
292Fax messages can be sent to the Observer 24 hours a day at (408) 244-3402. Phone messages can be left 24 hours a day at (408) 244-2455. E-mails can be sent to Dave@wrestlingobserver.com
293
294CMLL: Negro Casas’ knee surgery to repair his torn meniscus was on 11/6 so he should be back in action in about a month
295
296The 12/7 Arena Mexico show was headlined by Volador Jr., a replacement for the injured Caristico (to their credit they did announce it days before the show) beating Ultimo Guerrero. They drew 6,000 fans, with no outside help. That’s back to what they were doing before they started using L.A. Park, Penta 0M and Rey Fenix almost every week, or did special themed shows like legends events. Then again, historically CMLL attendance used to drop for several weeks after WWE would run Mexico City because WWE tickets were so expensive that people wouldn’t go to local wrestling for a while after. But CMLL is also in a lull right now with nothing major happening or being built so even if WWE wasn’t in last week, I wouldn’t have expected a number any bigger than that. I’d go ***3/4 for this one. If you have seen a previous Volador vs. Guerrero match, you probably saw most of the moves and a better match, and people complained that it was routine and even phoned in. If you’ve never seen it, it would be really impressive as far as the cool moves went but there was something very much missing with Volador as compared to the past. Actually this match and all the criticism of it made me realize just how everyone would have crapped on Ric Flair in the modern era, but in his era, he was viewed as the greatest of all-time, and it’s just how things change. Not a knock at Flip Gordon (although I’m sure everyone will take this as such) but as a star standing there in the ring, Volador with the short hair and full body suit (as opposed to the long hair and the great physique) just looks so much less of a star, like going from the presence of a Bret Hart to the presence of a Gordon. He’s clearly hurting with both his legs taped up, but still does a lot of good stuff, but this was a shorter version of the same match I’ve seen before. The crowd was into it in spots and popped for the finish, but the heat wasn’t consistent of at the level of their prior bouts. Volador won the first fall in 2:47 with the backstabber. Fans booed him, but that’s not unusual. In the second fall, Volador did a running flip dive and Guerrero caught him and power bombed him on the floor. It’s a great spot, but people have seen it so much with Guerrero of late that they didn’t react that big. This set up the Pulp Guerrero (sort of similar to a stretch muffler) finish at 2:34. The third fall saw Guerrero do his run on the floor and jumping bodyblock into the stands over the barricade spot. He did two power bombs off the middle rope for near falls. Volador did a pescado into a huracanrana. Guerrero did a one arm power superplex, which was new. The finish saw Guerrero go for another power bomb off the middle rope but Volador turned it into a huracanrana in mid-air for the pin at 8:28 of the fall. Start to finish was 14:52, shorter than a usual major singles main event on a Friday show. The semi saw Atlantis & Diamante Azul & Valiente beating Rush & Cavernario & El Terrible via DQ when Bestia del Ring ran in
297
29812/14 has Caristico & Valiente & Volador vs. Ultimo Guerrero & Sanson & Cuatrero on top, plus Angel de Oro & Flyer & Niebla Roja vs. Rey Bucanero & Shocker & El Terrible, and Soberano Jr. vs. Forastero.
299
300AAA: Konnan on his podcast brought up Dragon Bane, Keyra and Lady Maravilla being at the WWE tryouts in Chile, and Keyra missed Guerra de Titanes to do the tryouts. He said that all three were going to make it big but none of them are ready for WWE right now because they don’t speak English and don’t work WWE style. He also noted that if they go right now, they’d be making peanuts and it’s better to build a name like Fenix, Pentagon and Bandido are doing and then if they went to WWE they’d go in at a far higher price tag. Konnan said none of them could leave anyway since they are all under contract to AAA
301
302Dragon Bane, who is 18, so probably won’t get signed this early, said Sara Stock, one of the WWE coaches who worked in Mexico, recommended him and some of the others from Mexico
303
304He also said the AAA deal with Twitch, where all of their TV tapings air live on Twitch, will continue through 2019
305
306AAA changed its Wednesday night Lucha Capital Facebook tournament. It was originally a 24 person tournament with one winner. There were random matches. Who knows what the standings were. But it made less sense than this season of Mixed Match Challenge, which kind of makes you appreciate how the Japanese can at least keep their tournaments together. So now there is a women’s final coming on 12/12 with Taya vs. Keyra vs. Vanilla. Announced for the men’s semifinals are Aerostar, Golden Magic, Laredo Kid, El Hijo del Vikingo, El Texano Jr., Maximo, Drago and Mascarita Sagrada. Killer Kross won his only match but he’s not listed
307
308A correction from Guerra de Titanes. Rey Escorpion & El Texano Jr. didn’t win the tag titles in the three-way match, as they were the champions going in
309
310The TV tapings this week were 12/8 in Xalapa. Lady Maravilla & Starfire beat Lady Shani & Mamba when Starfire pinned Shani with a German suplex and a fast count by heel ref El Hijo de Tirantes. Starfire challenged Shani for a title match. El Hijo del Vikingo & Laredo Kid & Myzteziz Jr. beat Jack Evans & Australian Suicide & Taurus. Laredo Kid pinned Evans with a top rope Spanish fly. Aerostar beat Monsther Clown in a dog collar match. Clown unmasked him after the match. Mocho Cota Jr. & Carta Brava Jr. & Tito Santana beat Averno & Chessman & Super Fly in a bloodbath when Brava pinned Super Fly. Lots of chair shots here. Main event saw Pagano & Dr. Wagner Jr. & Psycho Clown over Blue Demon Jr. & Moose & Rey Escorpion. Pagano pinned Moose after a legdrop off the tp rope. Moose replaced Kross
311
312They are doing a TV taping on Christmas Day in Cuautitlan with La Parka & Pagano & Psycho Clown vs. Electroshock & Rey Escorpion & Taurus as the main event.
313
314DRAGON GATE: The final big show of the year, Final Gate on 12/23 in Fukuoka’s International Center Arena has Kagetora & U-T & Yasshi & Problem Dragon vs. Jason Lee & Kaito Ishida & Shachihoko Boy & Dragon Dia, Shun Skywalker & Hyo Watanabe & Yuki Yoshioka & Kota Minoura vs. Ryo Saito & Don Fujii & Gamma & K-Ness, Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Daga, Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino vs. Flamita & Bandido, Kzy & Susumu Yokosuka & Genki Horiguchi defend the Open the Triangle Gate titles against Takashi Yoshida & Yasushi Kanda & Kazma Sakamoto, Yamato & BxB Hulk defend the Open the Twin Gate titles against Big R Shimizu & Ben K, and the main event is Dragon Kid putting up his mask against the hair of Eita
315
316They’ve announced their major show schedule for the year with Memorial Gate on 3/21 in Wakayama at the Prefectural Gym. Dead or Alive is 5/6 in Nagoya at Aiichi Gym. The Kobe World Festival show (the biggest show of the year) is 7/21 at Kobe World Hall. Dangerous Gate is 8/24 in Tokyo at the Ota Ward Gym. Gate of Origin is 9/1 at Sendai’s Sun Plaza Hall. They also will continue with the biggest monthly shows at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo.
317
318ALL JAPAN: Joe Doering & Dylan James won the 42nd annual Real World Tag League tournament with a win over Shuji Ishikawa & Suwama in the last match on the 12/11 show at Korakuen Hall before an overflow crowd of 1,758 paid. Suwama & Ishikawa, the current world tag team champions, were the 2017 winners looking to become the first team to repeat since Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama won in 1998 and 1999. So one would expect Dylan & James to get a title shot early next month. The match started slow and had a hot finish. Doering’s left pec wasn’t as bruised up and he was doing a lot more than earlier in the tour and was really good here. James was the star of the match and the crowd was into the hard chops and big clotheslines. The match wasn’t smooth, but it had the feeling of a real fight, which isn’t smooth and was told it was at the ****1/4 level. Going into the final day, Doering & James, Ishikawa & Suwama, Kengo Mashimo & Kai, Parrow & Odinson and Akiyama & Daisuke Sekimoto were all tied with 6-3 records. It was the booking to fail on the final day. First, Mashimo & Kai lost to Jake Lee & Ryoji Sai in 11:18 when Lee pinned Mashimo. Next out was Parrow & Odinson, who lost to Kento Miyahara & Yoshitatsu in 10:59 when Miyahara beat Odinson. Akiyama & Sekimoto then lost to Takao Omori & Manabu Soya in 17:57 when Omori pinned Akiyama with the axe bomber. So it came down to the final two teams, which went 18:52 before James pinned Ishikawa after a choke slam. So the final standings were: 1. Doering & James 7-3; 2. Suwama & Ishikawa, Akiyama & Sekimoto, Mashimo & Kai and Parrow & Odinson 6-4; 6. Miyahara & Yoshitatsu and Omori & Soya 5-5; 8. Lee & Sai and Zeus & The Bodyguard 4-6; 10. Tajiri & Gianni Valletta and Naoya Nomura & Yuma Aoyagi 3-7
319
320For the final week, 12/6 in Osaka before 378 fans saw Akiyama & Sekimoto beat Nomura & Aoyagi in 14:32 when Akiyama pinned Aoyagi. Mashimo & Kai beat Zeus & Bodyguard in 21:11 when Kai pinned Bodyguard with a small package
321
32212/8 in Osaka at the smaller Edion Arena drew 726 as Nomura & Aoyagi beat Doering & James in 4:58 when Nomura pinned James with a jackknife cradle. Akiyama & Sekimoto beat Suwama & Ishikawa in 17:28 when Sekimoto pinned Ishikawa with a German suplex. Zeus & Bodyguard beat Miyahara & Yoshitatsu in 23:16 when Zeus pinned Yoshitatsu with a jackhammer slam